Ask Chas and Dave anything – live chat

Sampled by Eminem, parodied by the Two Ronnies and an undeniable part of British pop history, the 'rockney' duo answered your questions on everything from keeping rabbits to playing for 50,000 metallers at Sonisphere

Let's not beat around the bush: lots of people think Chas and Dave are a novelty act. That's a notion they dispute. "I always judge people on if they've been good, and we've always been good, even if we've done a funny song," Chas Hodges told me last year.

"I remember reading a write-up in the Independent once, and it said: 'If Chas and Dave had been doing colleges instead of Crackerjack, they'd be right up there with Madness and Ian Dury," Dave Peacock added. "He might have a point."

There's no disputing the pair's rich musical history: they've been part of British pop since the days of Joe Meek, in the early 1960s. Chas and Dave joined us live on Tuesday 1 April to answer your questions on everything from keeping rabbits to entertaining metallers, and the relative allure of Margate and Southend.

Here are some of the highlights:

GlenPonder: What reaction are you -expecting from 50,000 cidered-up metallers when you share a stage with Slayer at Sonisphere this summer?

Dave: We've done similar shows before, so things should be good. Thirty-five years ago, we played with Led Zep on the Knebworth bill and we went down great. We also play the Rebellion Punk festival regularly and that's a stormer. In fact, this summer we're playing a folk, a metal and a country festival. Our music adapts to them all.

bltp: On a nice piece of grilled gammon, do you prefer fried egg or pineapple?

Chas: I like a couple of licorice pipes.

Steve196450: Who would you still like to work with?

Dave: Allan Toussaint and Ry Cooder. Joe Henry, who produced our new album, worked with Toussaint recently. We love that New Orleans sound – and were knocked out to be able to record with Clarence "Frogman" Henry back in the 80s. He even -covered a couple of our songs.

ShermanMLight: Do you listen to any modern bands?

Dave: I heard the Lumineers track Hey Ho and bought their album. And I saw Paolo Nutini do Pencil Full of Lead on Jools Holland. He set the studio alight.

shevadnadze: How did Gertcha originate?

Chas: It was the in-word in 1979 [meaning "Get out of it!"]. So me and Dave wrote a song about it – an informative song about different situations that would prompt our grand-daddies to say: "GERTCHA!"

llamalpaca: Assuming Tim Sherwood goes in the summer, who would be your choice for new Spurs manager??

Dave: Glenn Hoddle, I s'pose.

tc2011: Do you have any good memories of Colin Smythe when he worked with you? He was my uncle, but I never knew him too well.

Dave: We loved Colin. He worked for our label when we did the first Spurs song. He had to coordinate its release, which he did very well – despite being a big Arsenal fan. He once gave us a lift in his flash new car that had knobs all over the dashboard. We spent the whole journey asking if he'd nicked them off a gas stove.